Wareham sees 70 covid-19 cases in past week

Jan 29, 2021

Wareham saw 70 new cases of covid-19 in the past week, according to the state’s Jan. 28 Weekly Public Health Report.

The weekly total is down from last week’s 86 new cases, indicating that the post-holiday surge in cases is finally slowing. 

Wareham’s average daily incidence rate decreased to 44.3 cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days. Given Wareham’s population, this means there were about 10.19 new cases each day over the past two weeks.

Wareham has also seen a percent positivity rate — or the percentage of covid-19 tests performed that come back positive — of 6.62 percent over the last 14 days. 

About a week ago, the state’s public health report indicated Wareham was seeing roughly 12.56 new cases each day and had a percent positivity rate of 8.46 percent. Based on the state report, the town’s numbers are moving in the right direction. 

Wareham is still classified “red” per the state’s guidelines — the same category the town has fallen into since Dec. 3.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been 1,136 coronavirus cases in Wareham.

At the Board of Selectmen meeting on Jan. 26, Town Administrator Derek Sullivan said cases seemed to be slowing, but noted though the number of deaths — 15 in the past seven weeks — was a concerning trend. 

As of Jan. 25, Wareham Public Schools reported four students and one staff member had tested positive for covid-19. Additionally, 22 students and 12 employees were currently quarantined.